


Eric's Thorns

by TooGay4Dis



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Alan Humphries - Freeform, Alan is a smol bean, Angst, Attacks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eric doesn't want Alan to worry, Eric is stupid, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Eric Slingby, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Musical Kuroshitsuji: -The Most Beautiful DEATH in The World- Sen no Tamashii to Ochita Shinigami, Shi No Toge, Shinigami, Terminal Illnesses, Thorns of Death, poor eric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-22 09:12:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7428803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooGay4Dis/pseuds/TooGay4Dis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We all know the story of how Alan caught the Thorns of Death. But what if it was Eric instead?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This was originally on my Wattpad but I'm putting it on here along with my other stories. Enjoy! :)

Eric sniffled softly as he walked along the empty London streets, ready for his last reap of the day. He was not normally an emotional person, no, not at all. But tonight was different. Tonight, he had had an argument with Alan.

Oh, Alan. He was the only person who could bring out emotion in Eric. Most of the time, that emotion would be love, but tonight, it was anger. The ridiculous thing was, Eric couldn't even remember what they were fighting about. It was most likely something silly.

Nevertheless, Eric tried to keep the tears from rolling down his face, but he couldn't. He cursed quietly. He just wanted to go home, back to Alan. He would apologize and the smaller reaper would most likely forgive him. He hoped.

Name: Simon Tilden 

Time of Death: 11:03 

Manner of Death: Sudden heart attack 

Age: 23 

It was almost 11:00 and Eric picked up his pace. He hated taking young lives, but it was all part of the job. He always tried to work emotionlessly, it was easier that way. But at the moment, it was proving difficult.

Eric watched from the shadows of a tall building as he saw a young man collapse onto his knees, gasping for air and coughing up blood. He grimaced and readied his death scythe. Just as the light left the young man's brown eyes, Eric raised his scythe. But before he could make the blow, Simon's cinematic record began spewing out of him. It was vengeful, angry at being taken so young, so violently. The record was fighting back.

Eric barely let out a gasp when he felt the cinema strips go through him, piercing his chest. The records could sense Eric's emotion and they used it to their advantage, wrapping themselves around his limbs. He began to wheeze and cough, flailing his scythe around until he eventually cut one of the strips. The cinematic record reacted by tightening itself more around Eric. He knew he had to act quickly, or he was going to die. He raised his scythe once more and he could see only one way out.

He cut the middle strip, the main one holding him in place. However, this strip was very tight, so to free himself, he ended up having to slash a part of his chest as well. He fell roughly to the floor, wincing on impact. Before the record had a chance to strike again, he quickly cut the remaining strips before leaning heavily against the wall.

Well, that sucked.  He thought bitterly to himself.

He looked down to his chest to see it slowly oozing blood. There was a horizontal gash going right across his ribcage and he knew he needed to get it treated before it became life threatening. There was a dull ache in his chest. Shrugging it off as his wound, he began to stumble into an alleyway so he could port back to the Shinigami Realm.

~*~

Alan was sat in his shared apartment reading in the living room as he had received no overtime that night. He was trying to take his mind off the argument he had with Eric earlier, before he went on his last soul collection for the day. It was a stupid argument, something that Grell said if he remembered rightly.

He sighed, absent mindedly flicking through the pages of his book, until he heard the front door open. He really wasn't in the mood for talking right now.

"Go away, Eric." He muttered. The door closed behind him.

"Nice ta' see ye' too." Came a gruff reply. Eric's voice came out quite... strained.

Furrowing his brow, Alan looked up from the book he was reading. His eyes widened. "Eric, you're injured! What happened?"

Eric looked down at his chest. His white shirt had been stained red and Alan could see the blood still pulsing out through the fabric. "How very observant of ye'." Eric muttered sarcastically. "M'fine."

"You're certainly not fine!" Alan protested, then sighed. "Go to the bathroom, I'll get the first aid kit."

Begrudgingly, Eric stumbled over to the bathroom and sat on the toilet seat. If truth be told, Eric's chest  was  beginning to sting a bit. His eyes began to get heavy and Eric had trouble keeping them open.

Alan then appeared in the doorway, holding a little bag full of medical supplies. He made his way over to Eric, kneeling down in front of him. "I need you to keep your eyes open for me, okay?" Eric nodded sleepily. "I'm going to clean your wound, but there's no point stitching it, you will have healed by tomorrow with bed rest." Eric nodded again, his head drooping.

Alan took out the antiseptic wipes and began to dab lightly on Eric's skin. Eric hissed slightly at the contact and Alan apologized softly. Once he had cleaned away the blood, he got out bandages, wrapping them tightly around Eric's wound so they would heal properly. Eric was almost asleep now, slumping more and more on the toilet seat.

"There." Alan said as he finished. "Can you stand?"

Eric nodded drowsily and stood up, swaying violently.

"Whoa!" Alan called in alarm, steadying him. Eric looked at him, confusion in his eyes. He was clearly out of it. "Oh baby..." Alan tutted softly before wrapping one of Eric's arms around his shoulder and guiding him towards the bedroom they shared. He placed Eric in bed, taking off his shoes and shirt. He was running a slight temperature and Alan tried to keep the look of concern off his face. Alan then got undressed into his night clothes before getting under the covers beside Eric.

Alan snuggled closer to him, minding his injuries. Eric was already asleep and snoring softly and Alan felt a small smile creep up on his face.

Yes,  Alan thought.  Everything will be alright in the morning. 

But little did he know, the worst was far from over.


	2. Scrambled Eggs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bit of fluff and something's definitely wrong with Eric.

Eric awoke in the morning with a dull pain in his chest. He groaned and rolled over, only to hear a faint squeak.

"Eric! You're lying on me!" Alan whined. "That's the third time this week." He huffed.

Eric let out a small laugh. "Sorry, flower." He grinned before wincing slightly at a pang in his chest.

"What's wrong?" Alan asked, looking at his lover with concern.

"Tis nothin'" Eric dismissed him with a shrug. "Probably just a bit of pain from yesterday."

Alan's eyebrow furrowed. "You should be healed by now. Eric, what happened?"

"The soul fought back." Eric replied. "Had me in a bloody choke hold too. Had to slash meself with me own scythe."

"That's... unusual." Alan muttered and was clearly beginning to think hard, the cogs turning in his brain.

"Aye." Eric responded. "But m'alright now so let's just cuddle."

Alan giggled and wrapped an arm around Eric. He loved his warmth. Eric held the smaller shinigami close to him, rubbing little circles in his back and Alan hummed in content.

"Alan, about yesterday, I'm sorry we fought." Eric apologized.

"It's okay, Eric. I'm sorry too." Alan snuggled closer to him. "Let's forget about that and make breakfast, yes?" He asked.

"Sounds like a good plan, baby." Eric smirked, slapping Alan's arse as he got up from the bed. Alan squeaked in protest, going as red as Agent Sutcliff's hair. "I love it when you make that noise." Eric commented. Alan only blushed harder before playfully hitting him.

"I'm going to put on some eggs." He said, trying to hide a smile behind his small hand. "Stay here." He ordered.

"Yes sir!" Eric mock saluted and rolled back over in bed. Alan only shook his head, giggling at his boyfriend's funny behaviour before going into the kitchen, his bare feet padding against the wood floor.

Eric sighed softly as he looked up at the ceiling. His chest was still hurting and he didn't know why. He didn't want to tell Alan, it would only worry the younger shinigami more. He rolled over to the other side of the bed but stopped when he saw something red on his pyjamas.

Lifting up his sleeve, he noticed that his wrist was bleeding. He couldn't even feel it. What is going on? He slowly wiped the blood away and began to apply some pressure and eventually the bleeding stopped.

"I have breakfast!" Alan announced, making his way into the room. Eric quickly folded over his sleeve to conceal the blood stain. "Scrambled eggs, your favourite!" He smiled.

"Thanks, Al." Eric grinned, taking the tray of food carefully. He began to eat his food, munching on the eggs quietly.

"Everything okay, Eric?" Alan enquired. "You're awful quiet."

Eric looked up and smiled. "Oh, no, nothin' jus' thinking." He said with a small shrug of his shoulders. Alan stared at him.

"Alright." Alan said finally. "Mr Spears wants us in this afternoon." He said, changing the topic. "We need to write up our reports from yesterday."

Eric nodded. "Aye, but then afterwards can we get dinner?"

"Sure." Alan smiled and blushed softly.

"You look so cute when you do that."

"I-I do not!" Alan stuttered indignantly, blushing harder.

"Yes you do, I love it." Eric smirked.

"Eric-kun!" Alan groaned, smacking the blonde reaper with a pillow.

"Alright! Alright!" Eric laughed, holding his hands up in the air in defeat. Alan backed down and shuffled towards Eric, planting a small kiss on his nose.

"I love you." Alan whispered.

"I love ye' too, flower."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nawwww


	3. Reports, Reports, Reports.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric is confused... as always.

As Alan went into the bathroom to get ready for work, Eric looked down at his wrists. There was no bleeding, and he expected there to be no mark, but there  was. A faint, black line was etched into his skin. Eric looked at it in shock.

Wha' the hell is this?  He thought, trying not to panic.

"Eric?" Alan asked from the door, fully dressed but still maintaining his bed head. "What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothin' flower." Eric responded quickly, covering up his wrist. Alan stared at Eric again.

He sighed. "You're acting awfully strange this morning." He said suspiciously.

"Honestly Al, it's nothin'. I'm just tired is all."

"Okay..." Alan trailed off. "We best be getting going soon."

Eric smirked. "Aren't ye' forgetting something?"

Alan hesitated before checking if he had his glasses on his face and then checking he had on his bolo tie. "No, why?"

Eric got up from the bed and ruffled Alan's hair. "Were ye' really going ta' go ta' work sporting  that  hair do?" He laughed. "Will would've put up a fit!"

Alan blushed darkly. "I suppose you're right." He giggled before getting a comb off the bedside table and running it through his hair. Eric quickly got dressed, making sure to be facing away from Alan so he couldn't see his wrists.

"C'mon Al, let's go." He said, pulling on his shoes. Alan nodded and they exited their apartment.

~*~

They were in the lift at the dispatch when Eric got a dull throb in his chest. He winced slightly. His chest had been hurting all morning and he was starting to get a little worried.

He would've blamed it on his injury but he knew it couldn't be for two reasons: the fact that his injury would've healed by now with his reaper abilities, and also the fact that the pain was coming from  inside  his chest, not on the surface. Eric was definitely confused.

The lift door slid open and he parted ways with Alan, both heading to their own respective offices.

"I'll see ye' later, flower." Eric murmured in Alan's ear, giving him a quick hug.

"Goodbye, Eric-kun." Alan smiled, returning the hug before heading into the other direction.

Eric lazily headed to his office. He wasn't in any particular rush as he dreaded having to fill in mounds of paperwork.  Today is definitely not my day.  He thought.

Eventually, he came to the door with his name on. He was lucky, he supposed, to have his own office. It was mainly because he trained new recruits. Well,  used  to. He hadn't trained anyone else since Alan and he planned to keep it that way.

Most shinigami only had cubicles, like Ronald, for example, who was making his way over.

"Hiya Eric-Senpai!" Ron greeted cheerfully.

"Hey Ron." Greeted Eric with a grin.

"You up for a drink tonight? I had a date with a bird at General Affairs but she cancelled on me." He frowned slightly. "She thought I was cheatin' on her!"

"Were ye'?" Asked Eric with a smirk.

"Of course not! I may get around, but I'm no cheater. You should know that, Senpai."

"Ah, that I do. That's her loss anyway. As for yer invite, I'll have ta' see what I'm doing with Alan first." Said Eric.

"Just bring 'im along! I'm sure we'll have a good time."

Eric chuckled at that. "Ron, ye' know just as well as I do that the pub scene ain't Alan's thing. But I'll ask 'im anyways."

Ronnie grinned. "Awesome! Now, uh, I best get to work. William-Senpai is already mad at me for not completing last week's reports." He then scuttled away down the corridor and Eric watched him with an amused expression as he suddenly stopped and began flirting with a receptionist.  Typical. 

Eric opened the door to his office and walked towards his desk, shutting the door behind him.

His office was small but comfortable. He had a desk with a swivel chair and a bookcase aligning one wall. He also had a small sofa in the corner for when he had overtime and a house plant that was in desperate need of watering.

He sighed as he entered, seeing the large stack of paperwork he would have to complete. He sat down in his chair and filled out the first report.

A couple of hours later, he was only about half way through and he sighed again, running his fingers through the unbraided side of his hair.

He then stood up, stretching and hearing the satisfying pop in his back.  Time for a break.  He thought.

He then left his office and headed for the rec room, pouring himself a cup of coffee out of one of the flasks on the counter top.

"Eric-kun!" Alan called.

"Hey Al, how's the day been?"

Alan sighed, making himself a cup of tea. "Same old, same old. Have you finished your reports?"

"No, not yet. I'm only halfway through." He complained, downing the rest of his coffee.

"Well if you hurry," Alan whispered in Eric's ear. "I might reward you later for all your hard work."

Eric's eyes darkened and he smirked. "I'm going ta' go and finish the reports." He announced and practically ran out of the room and back into his office.

When he got there, he let out a groan at all the reports he still had to do. But with Alan's words in his mind, he quickly got back to work.

After a few more hours of writing, Eric was down to his last report, his most recent reap.  Simon Tilden. 

As he began to complete the report, he felt a tightening in his chest. Rubbing at it a little, he tried to ignore it but it only got worse.

Eric let out a small gasp as he felt like his organs were being squeezed tightly and he clutched harder onto the fabric of his shirt, willing the random pain to stop. It didn't.

It had been about ten minutes and the pain had only got worse and Eric was beginning to see black spots in his vision. His breathing was laboured, coming out in short pants and he had a lining of sweat coating his face.

Abruptly, the pain stopped. Eric looked around, confused, trying to regulate his breathing. Before he could, a sharp sting attacked his wrists and he bit his lip to stop himself from crying out. He rolled up his sleeve to see the black line on his wrist. It was moving.  What's happening?! 

The line slowly expanded, snaking itself about an inch down Eric's arm. Eric clutched his wrist in agony, it felt like his blood was burning, like there was pure acid in his veins. He couldn't think straight, he couldn't breathe.

When the line eventually stopped, he looked down to see a small thorn etched under his skin. Eric's blood ran cold.

He looked at the marking on his skin. The pain had numbed to a dull throb, but it was still there.

One thought came into Eric's head.  Alan mustn't know. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Eric. :(


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric and Alan are needy and cute :)

It was almost 6:30pm and Alan had just finished his reports. He knew Eric would most likely still be working, he procrastinated too much for his own good, whether it be him messing with a stapler or spinning around on his office chair. Alan had caught Eric many times balancing a pen on his face. Lord knows how Eric mentored anyone, he was just a big kid himself.

Alan smiled softly, remembering the first time he met Eric. At first, they didn't get on, which was hard to believe considering what they were like now. Alan didn't think Eric took the job seriously, and at the time, Eric couldn't be bothered to "babysit" anyone, his words.

Alan decided to head to the Rec room and get Eric another cup of coffee and keep him company. Usually, Alan would just clock out and meet Eric back at the apartment, but he didn't want to do that tonight. Eric had been acting strange all day and he wanted to know what was going on.  Maybe it has something to do with that temperature he had last night?  Alan wondered.  Maybe the wound became infected? What if I didn't bandage him right? No, Eric would tell me if something was wrong. I need to calm down. 

Alan walked through the office hallway carrying a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. He knocked lightly on Eric's office door.

"Come in." Came a tired voice from the other side.

Alan opened the door to see Eric sat at his desk. The office was dark, the only light coming from a small lamp on the desk. Eric had large bags under his eyes and his face was paler than usual. There was a sheen of sweat coating it which was illuminated from the glow of the lamp.

"Eric, are you sure you're alright?"

Eric smiled thinly but it was more of a grimace. "Perfectly fine, flower. Just tired. What are ye' still doing here?" He asked.

"I wanted to keep you company," Alan said, eyeing Eric with concern. "And I brought you this." Alan handed the coffee to Eric who took it gratefully.

"Yer a life saver, Alan." Eric said as he took a swig of the warm, soothing liquid. "Ye' don't have ta' wait with me, ye' can go home if ye' want."

"No, I'd rather stay with you." Alan smiled and took a sip of his tea. Eric shrugged his shoulders dismissively.

"Alri' then. But I'm nearly done. Just half way through the Simon Tilden case." He subconsciously rubbed at his chest again. "Won't be long."

Alan nodded and continued to drink his tea. He watched Eric closely, studying his movements. Every now and then, Eric would rub at his eyes or wince when he took a deep breath. He wrote quickly and sloppily. Alan cringed, knowing that William-Senpai would not be impressed and probably make Eric do it all again.

Eventually, Eric stopped writing and sighed, running a hand through his hair before shutting the file closed. "Done." He announced. Eric rose from his chair, making his way over to Alan who was nestled on the small sofa. Alan smiled and opened his arms, making grabby motions. Eric chuckled and sat on the couch next to the smaller reaper and pulled him in for a hug.

They sat there for a while, neither moving from their positions. Eric stroked Alan's hair soothingly and Alan kept his arms wrapped tightly around his partner, scared he'd disappear. He felt so lucky to have Eric and he never wanted anything to come between them. He couldn't wait to spend eternity with his soulmate. He finally had someone to live for, someone to fight for, someone to  die  for. And it was true, Alan would do anything for Eric. He was his light, just as he was Eric's. They relied on each other and Alan couldn't imagine a life without him.

"I love you." Alan whispered, nuzzling his head in Eric's neck. "So much."

Eric rested his head on Alan's and closed his eyes. "I love ye' too, Al. More than you'll ever understand."

Alan looked up and smiled, stroking Eric's face lightly. Eric grabbed Alan's cheek gently before pulling him for a tender kiss. Eric never knew how to put into words his love for Alan, so he would always show it to him, kissing him deeply, trying to convey everything he felt.

Alan closed his eyes and moaned softly. Eric's kisses always made him feel wanted, feel cared for. He ran his hands through Eric's wavy hair, deepening the kiss. Eric hummed in content.

Eventually, they broke apart, and Alan found himself running a finger over his kiss-swollen lips in a daze. Eric smirked, loving the effect he had on the smaller reaper. Only he could do that and he knew it.

"We should go back to the apartment." Eric said softly. Alan snapped out of his daze and nodded, untangling himself from Eric's arms. He felt cold without Eric's touch, almost empty. He frowned at the loss of contact. Eric sensed this and grabbed hold of Alan's hand gently and he smiled.

Both reapers then left the office hand in hand. In that moment, everything felt right. It was a moment Eric wished could last forever.


End file.
